Today I’m posting an update for my fourth (final) batch of SPFBO books (which can be found here).  This year I’m teaming up with the lovely ladies from the Critiquing Chemist and we split the batch of books equally – which gives me a little more time this year.

This month I read and reviewed all three books from my fourth batch and today I’m providing my feedback on which books will be cut or rolled forward. I’m also making the decision between all the books carried forward to this point of which will be cut and which will be semi finalists..

I would mention that this is ultimately the most difficult part of the competition for judges and authors.  I don’t find making cuts easy to be honest however it’s the nature of the competition.  There can be only one. I would also like to thank the authors of the books that are highlighted today for taking the decision to throw their hat into the ring.  It can’t be easy and I definitely applaud you for taking this step.

Without further ado here is my feedback from the fourth batch of books:

Little White Hands by Mark Cushen

Almost five hundred years have passed since the Seasons were at war. Half a millennium since Winter defied Spring, and lost.

Generations have come and gone, not knowing the bitter freeze and howling snows of Winter ever existed.

But now, after centuries of silence, the participants in this ancient struggle have resurfaced and reignited their feud on the doorstep of an unassuming little kitchen boy.

Garlan’s dreams of being just like the knights he idolizes may not be as impossible as he has always been led to believe, when he is chased from his home and thrust headlong into the kind of adventure he had only ever read about in books.

Setting out on a journey that spans the entire kingdom of Faeland, Garlan will traverse impossible mountains and stormy seas and battle terrible monsters, all to keep the world he knows safe from an enemy who will stop at nothing to bring about a never-ending winter.

With a cast of fantastical characters to aid him in his quest, can Garlan overcome his self-doubt and find the courage he needs to rise above his humble station and become the hero he always dreamed of being?

The fate of the world rests in his hands.

My review is here.

In a nutshell: A very enjoyable coming of age MG story.  Well written and with plenty of adventure.  To be completely honest this is probably a story aimed at a younger audience than I perhaps would normally read but I have to say it’s a really good story and very well executed.  

Conclusion : Cut

The Throne of Ice & Ash by JDL Rosell

A throne in peril, a tragic betrayal, two heirs struggling to save their land, and a prophesied war threatening to engulf the world…

Bjorn, youngest heir to the Mad Jarl of Oakharrow, has always felt more at ease with a quill than a sword. Yet when calamity strikes his family, he must draw a blade and lead a company of warriors into the cold, deadly mountains in pursuit of a mysterious foe. Though he seeks vengeance, an ancient power stirs within him, and the whispers of prophecy beckon him toward an ominous destiny…

Aelthena, Bjorn’s sister, was born with the aptitude to lead, and she’s eager to prove it. But her society’s rules for women, and her love for her brother, restrain her efforts to command. As she walks the fine line between ambition and virtue, enemies of both mankind and myth rise against Oakharrow’s throne, and even her allies question her right to rule…

A harrowing tale of the struggle for power and the dawning heroes who rise above it, The Throne of Ice & Ash is Book 1 of the Norse high fantasy, coming of age series The Runewar Saga. Fans of A Song of Ice and Fire, The Lord of the Rings, and The Wheel of Time won’t want to miss this new sweeping epic fantasy!

My review is here.

In a nutshell: I really enjoyed this. A norse style story of two siblings each following a different path.  Very well written and seems to go from strength to strength.

Conclusion: Roll Forward

Out of the Dust by Joe Coates

There are few things more dangerous or more destructive than a bad man who thinks that he is doing a good thing…

The Aska Isles are burning. An unseasonable drought is slowly killing the land; crushing it in a patient and merciless fist of rising fire and dust.

On the prosperous Northern Isle, King Taavi Fulbright, senile and raving, edges closer to death while his Viceroy, the flint-hearted Corbin Cadmael, continues with his plans for subjugating the South and bringing the contemptible, stinking peasants that farm it under his yolk.

On the beautiful and brutal highlands of the Southern Isle, an outfit of desperadoes, bandits and cattle-thieves, led by the infamous Shaw siblings, is in the midst of murdering a team of the Crown’s cattle drovers and nicking their stock. It’s a final payday before the head of their crew, Viggo Shaw, leaves the road-life for good and settles down to fatherhood. Viggo cares little for the fate of the many, being concerned only with the lives of those closest to him; his sister and brother, Ylva and Destin, his lifelong love, Erika, and their unborn child.

That is until the delightfully psychotic Cormac Latrell comes strolling back into their lives after a decade-long absence. Latrell is a monster and, like all good monsters, is a monster of Viggo’s own creation. Once a polite and conscientious young nobleman, Latrell is the bastard son of Viceroy Cadmael and has been twisted by a love unrequited, the scorn of those he wished only to help, and the revulsion of a father who only ever saw him as a disappointment.

Latrell is hunting Erika’s sister, Fenella, who is rumoured to be endowed with powers long believed to be lost to legend. They are the powers of the Empathy, an elemental magic that could bring the Aska Isles back from the brink of the fire –– or cast it into the flames.

Now, Viggo and his band find themselves inexorably drawn into a choking world of revisited childhood sins that have sown the seeds from which fiends grow, soul-ripping jealousies, false prophesies, and blood-soaked feuds that promise little in the way of relief for any of them.

Viggo Shaw must face a trifecta of hard questions and an even tougher choice; is the saving of his world, the keeping of a final promise and the defeating of a monster he helped mould worth becoming a monster himself for?

Or should he just do what he aches to do, and surrender to death?

Or perhaps, Viggo might learn on his journey that the human heart is a torment and a masterpiece.

My review is here.

In a nutshell: I loved the writing for this one, and also the setting. It’s a story that becomes more and more difficult to put down as the characters travel deeper into trouble.

In conclusion : Roll Forward

That concludes all my updates and reviews for the first stage of the competition.  All my reviews can be found below: 

1. Deathborn by CE Page
2. Graves Robbed, Heirlooms Returned by Ashley Capes
3. Stranded by Rosalind Tate
4. One of Us by ML Roberts
5. Berserker by Dimitrios Gkirgkiris
6. Stone Magus by Stephanie C Marks
7. Book of Secrets by Claudia Blood
8. Dragonbirth by Raina Nightingale
9. Carrion by Alyson Tait
10. Iarraindorn by Phil Dickens
11. Rising Shadows (The Pillar of Creation, #1) by Phillip Blackwater
12. By the Pact by Joanna Maciejewska
13. Little White Hands by Mark Cushen
14. Out of the Dust by Joe Coates
15. The Throne of Ice and Ash by JDL Rosell

To date I have rolled forward the following books:

Deathborn(Sovereigns of Bright and Shadow #1) by CE Page

By the Pact (Pacts Arcane and Otherwise 1) by Joanna Maciejewska

The Throne of Ice & Ash by JDL Rosell

Out of the Dust by Joe Coates

***

So, with the greatest respect to the authors I’m not going to make this a longer process than absolutely necessary.   I had some very enjoyable reads and eventually carried forward the above four books to think about some more.  I eventually put forward books to the Critiquing Chemist for their consideration and likewise they made similar suggestions.  Following discussion we have put forward five Semi Finalists as follows:

Ten Thousand Stitches by Olivia Atwater

Out of the Dust by Joe Coates

Subversive by Colleen Cowley

Hall of Bones by Tim Hardie

The Throne of Ice and Ash by J.D.L. Rosell

Here’s the link to the Critiquing Chemist’s post.

During the next few days we will consider these semi finalists further and post further reviews following which we hope to announce our finalist in the next few days.

Our thanks to the authors and good luck to the remaining semi finalists.